Allegiant Alternate Ending
by NineNorth
Summary: How I envision Allegiant ends... Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**I adore all things Divergent but somehow I just couldn't accept the ending. I get the "bigger picture" of why Tris had to die but my world is just not okay if Four is alone. So I decided to re-write the ending. This is my "smaller picture" version. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **PS: I do not own any of the awesomeness that is the Divergent Trilogy, but I have used some of the original paragraphs and dialogue…**

Chapter 50

 _Tris POV_

The gun goes off again.

More pain, and black edges on my vision, but I hear Caleb's voice speaking again _. The green button_.

So much pain.

But how, when my body feels so numb?

I start to fall, and slam my hand into the keypad on my way down. A light goes on behind the green button.

I hear a beep, and a churning sound.

I slide to the floor. I feel something warm on my neck, and under my cheek. Red. Blood is a strange color. Dark.

From the corner of my eye, I see David slumped over in his chair.

And my _mother_ walking out from behind him.

She is dressed in the same clothes she wore the last time I saw her, Abnegation gray, stained with her blood, with bare arms to show her tattoo. There are still bullet holes in her shirt; through them I can see her wounded skin, red but no longer bleeding, like she is frozen in time. Her dull blond hair is tied back in a knot, but a few loose strands frame her face in gold.

I know she can't be alive, but I don't know if I am seeing her now because I'm delirious from the blood loos or if the death serum has addled my thoughts or if she is here in some other way.

She kneels next to me and touches a cool hand to my cheek.

"Hello, Beatrice," she says, and she smiles.

"Am I done yet?" I say, and I'm not sure if I actually say it or if I just think it and she hears it.

"Yes," she says, her eyes bright with tears. "My dear child, you've done so well."

"No," says another voice. I see Tobias standing where my mother stood a moment ago. "You are not done. Not even close. You told Caleb that you didn't want to leave me. So don't."

I feel faint. Tired. There is a thread tugging me again, drawing me into my mother's arms. I want to go to her, to an embrace I have missed so much.

But I can't. Who would look after Caleb? He will be ostracized for not being here instead of me. And Christina has suffered enough loss. I promised her she would not lose me too. Then there is Tobias. He shouldn't have to be alone again. I am his family. I am his. So this choice is not mine to make.

 _Fight_ , I tell myself. _Fight_! I will myself to live. I force my divergent genes work for me. _Help is coming._

My mother stands up and turns away from me.

"I love you," I tell her, tears streaming down my cheeks. "But I have to stay."

She turns and gives me one last look. "I am so proud of you, my darling, brave girl. I love you. Take good care of Caleb." Then she's gone.

Tobias comes closer and kneels in front of me. "They are coming," he says. "I am coming. Hold on a little longer." He takes my hand. "Don't leave me."

His presence makes me stronger. It reminds me of the time we spent in his fear simulation. How he sprang into action when Marcus started to attack me. He became alive as soon as he realized that I needed him. The tables have turned somewhat. He needs me to be strong now, to fight.

Breathing becomes more difficult. Staying focussed becomes more difficult. The warm darkness wants to claim me but in the centre of the blurred edges is Tobias. Always Tobias.

But then he starts to fade. I try to tell him that I love him. That I never wanted to leave him. He fades even more. I can make my name out on his lips. Then Tobias disappears altogether. But the space where he was is not empty. There is someone else, no a few people, with me.

I am safe. Help came.

 _Tobias POV_

We walk through the abandoned security checkpoint without stopping. On the other side, I see Cara. The side of her face is badly bruised, and there's a bandage on her head, but that is not what concerns me. What concerns me is the troubled look on her face.

"What is it?" I say.

Cara shakes her head and starts crying.

"Where's Tris?" I say, anxiety gripping my throat.

"Tris went into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb. She survived the death serum, and set off the memory serum." Cara's voice falters. "She was shot. She lost a lot of blood. They don't know if she will make it – ".

I don't hear the rest. I am already running. It's then that I realize: Of course Tris would go into the Weapons Lab instead of Caleb.

Of course she would.

I get to the hospital in record time. Somehow I get to her room. There are tubes everywhere. There is a beautiful beep that mimics her heart beating. _She is still alive_ it reminds me.

Carefully I take her hand and examine the rest of her. I am struck by her beauty, something that the bruises and pale coloring of her skin can't erase. Her hair is messy with some specks of blood in it. I can see that someone has tried to clean her face a little. I feel a pang of gratitude. There were people looking out for her.

Unlike Caleb.

But I can't think of hurting him right now. It would be counterproductive. He must just stay away from me. It is his fault that Tris is here fighting for her life.

Christina appears in the doorway. Her eyes are filled with tears.

"No, you promised that you won't leave me," she tells Tris as she walks to her bed. "You come back to us or I'll have to beat you up." Christina's voice falters at the end and she starts to cry. "You promised…"

Cara walks in, Caleb follows her in. I cannot believe his audacity. He is the reason Tris is lying here.

"Whoa, Four," Cara says, her hands in the air. "Tris is here because of Caleb. Because she took his place in the mission and because he found her and brought her here. He saved her life. He knew what to do when most of the medical staff were still suffering from the effects of the memory serum. And many of them still are." She walks over to me and puts a hand on my arm. "Tris needs him."

I walk to Caleb and glare at him. "Do what you have to do," I snarl. "Then get out. You better pray she makes it."

 **P/B**

It has been two weeks since Tris hijacked Caleb's mission and landed up in the hospital. Two weeks since I heard her voice. Two weeks since I've slept in my own bed. Christina and Zeke take turns bringing me clean clothes and food. That is so kind of them, especially since it takes them from Uriah. Hana and Zeke decided to only unplug the machines after a month of their arrival here. They needed time with Uriah and they wanted to make sure that there was no other option. It leaves them two more weeks.

The only time I am away from Tris is when I use the bathroom adjoining her room. And I wouldn't really call that _being away_ from her.

She has shown no improvement yet. At least the doctors have stabilised since the memory serum was released. They are monitoring Tris closely. She is somewhat of a medical anomaly, having survived the death serum, and they want to find out how she did that. It seems like being Divergent is a lot more complicated than what the Bureau first assumed. It makes me hopeful that they are entirely wrong about the whole genetically pure versus genetically damaged idea. That they are wrong about me and about Uriah.

I don't allow the doctors and scientists to poke and prod Tris the way they want to. They are allowed to take a vial of blood every second day. No more. I am tired of their so-called experiments. They are here now to take yet another sample of her blood when something that they say startles me.

"It is amazing how the effects of one serum can open up a whole new world of serum discoveries." _It is amazing how the effects of one serum can open up a whole new world of serum discoveries._ Of course.

I need these people to hurry up and leave. I have to find Caleb.

 **P/B**

"I won't hurt you, Caleb," I say when I see fear register in his face as he sees me. I walk in to the lab and he closes the door behind me. Caleb does not look convinced. He walks around a counter, putting a table between us before he speaks.

"How is Tris?" He sounds hopeful. Probably because it is the first time I have left her side. His eyes search mine.

"No change."

"Oh." He looks down. His demeanour shows how broken he is. Good. He should not forget what he did.

Instead of relishing in that fact, I get straight to business. "You worked with the serums in Erudite, right?"

He looks up. "Yes. Why do you ask?" Caleb's curiosity is peeked. How very Erudite of him.

"I want you to create another serum. It should work similarly to the serum we used in Dauntless. I want to go into Tris's head."

"What? You want to go in to Tris's head?" Caleb seems genuinely surprised, shocked and confused.

"I want to talk to her, like I did when we were in my fear simulation. I want to convince her to wake up. Somehow her choices have kept her alive. Now she should choose to wake up. I think Divergents have a special ability to control themselves regardless of what is happening around them, or even to them… I don't know how to put it in words. I just know it is going to work. It happened before when Tris got me out of Jeanine's simulation. She woke me up. Now I want to wake her up."

"But she managed to wake you up without being inside your head?" He does not sound convinced.

"She woke me up using something she saw while she was in my head. I need to go in to see what her key is."

I do not mention that it occurred to me that I will be able to go in to Uriah's head too. He is also Divergent. If this works then it will spell something else for me: _redemption_. But this means we have a time limit.

"You have two weeks."

"I can't promise that it will be done by then." Caleb is defensive, but his answer suggests that the cogs in his brain are already trying to find a way to create the serum.

"Your life depends on it." Hopefully that is motivation enough for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 51

A week has passed. Matthew and Cara are helping Caleb to manufacture the serum. This way they get to work round the clock. I get regular updates from them. They seem to be getting somewhere. I have resumed my place next to Tris's bed. However, I have started taking time to run. It clears my head and helps me prepare for the conversation I will be having with Tris. In my mind there is not even the option of the serum not being developed in time or not working.

Then one morning, Caleb bursts into the hospital room with a vial of green liquid.

"I think this is it!"

I want to run to him, pick him up and swing him around – a pre-emptive victory dance – but I don't. Instead I slowly get up off my chair and calmly walk over to him. I try to steady my breathing.

"You _think_ this is it?"

"Yes, theoretically it should work. Matthew, Cara and I have zeroed in on the part of the brain – "

"Yeah, I don't care," I interrupt him.

"Wait, you should hear me out."

"Just skip the Science and Biology lesson."

"There is only one glitch: the serum only works for ten minutes. With more time we will probably be able to make it last longer but this is the best we can do with the time constraint. The tests have shown that two five minutes doses, with a two minute interval, work the best." Caleb's chest is still rising and falling, his breaths short. He must have run here all the way from the lab.

"How did you manage to find that out?"

"Mathew and Cara put me in a medically induced coma. We had to test the serum somehow."

His answer stuns me. My reply stuns me even more. "Thank you, Caleb." I did not think I would ever utter those words to him. But I did and they were sincere.

"There is something else. There was a greater spike in brain activity when someone other than the first person goes in for the second session. I think it has to do with the fact that the brain has to adjust to different stimuli, but that is simply a hypothesis."

"I suppose you want to be the second person to go in?" My question is blunt. I am still trying to figure out if Caleb engineered the serum specifically to work in two batches with two people so that he will get to speak to Tris again.

"I did not want to be presumptuous. She's yours. You should choose who goes in." His voice falters. "If someone could just tell her that I love her and that I am sorry. If I could do things over I would have stuck to the mission's original plan. I would have gone." Then he whispers, "I am alone, I disgust people. That is the fate of the selfish."

I try push my anger aside. This is about her now. "Caleb, if her love for you could make her hi-jack the mission then maybe a plea from you could help wake her up." Anything, _anything_ to get Tris to wake up.

"Matthew and Cara will be here in the morning to help administer the serum and to monitor the proceedings. I figured that you might want some time to prepare."

"There better be enough serum for me to have a shot with Uriah." Caleb and I look up to see Zeke and Christina standing at the doorway. "We came to tell you that we've set a time to switch off the machines, but that is not going to happen anymore."

"Uriah was always part of the plan, Zeke. I need to apologise to him." I say to my best friend, my voice shaky.

"How does this serum work?" Christina walks to Tris' bed and takes her hand. "There is something I need to say to Uriah."

 _Uriah?_ Did I hear correctly? Why would Christina need to talk to Uriah? They were good friends, but were they really that close?

"Chris, I am sorry but I think my mom and I should use the serum. I hope you understand, I think both of us need to have a moment with him. It might be our last." Zeke gulps and walks over to Christina. He puts his arms around her. She nods and walks out.

"I don't know if the serum will be so successful with Uriah. His monitors show no brain activity. But Uriah is Divergent and we should give it a try. Maybe, just maybe, we can perform a medical miracle." I can just stare at Caleb as he talks. He is nowhere close to being the guy he was before. He didn't call me out on the fact that I never mentioned that Uriah was always going to be part of the experiment. "Please excuse me. I need to make sure that everything is ready for tomorrow."

I know what Caleb means to say is that he needs to tell Matthew and Cara that Uriah also needs serum now. But he doesn't because he's not Caleb any more.

"You wait here, Four. I'm getting my mother so that you can fill her in on what is happening tomorrow."

"Before you go, Zeke…" I take a deep breath, "I am sorry that I didn't tell you about my idea for a serum sooner. I thought that maybe you wouldn't allow me to use it on Uriah. I really need to apologise to him. I messed up so badly."

"Yeah, you did mess up badly. You messed up by going solo with some rogue loons who detonated a bomb. Learn this lesson: you doing stuff by yourself - never a good thing. We're in this together, dude. I actually know what you are going through. So stop shutting yourself up in Tris' room like it's you two against the world. Because it couldn't be further from the truth. Now come here, let's kiss and make up so that I can go tell my moms about the serum." I playfully push Zeke away from me as he comes at me with puckered lips. "Aw, your kisses would probably be nowhere as good as Shauna's anyhow."

As Zeke jogs out, I go to Tris.

"Tomorrow you are going to wake up."

 **P/B**

Zeke and Hana leave after about two hours of serum talk. Zeke looks hopeful and excited. Hana not so much. But she is Dauntless to a fault: _fearless_. I should have known better than to have kept this from them. They deserved to know. Besides, I could have used Hana's bravery and Zeke's optimism.

I want to run, to clear my head and order my thoughts. I only have five minutes with Tris. How do I use that time?

I quickly change my clothes and embrace the therapy that exercise offers.

Should I tell her of the massive changes I have been seeing here at the Bureau? Of how her actions have revolutionised this society? They now don't think in terms of _damaged_ or _pure_ anymore but of potential. Of making our world a better place by optimizing the talents found in every and any citizen.

Should In tell her how the stone statue has been removed? Of how the people have realized that change can come sudden if there are brave individuals willing to make a stand and question the status quo.

Should I tell Tris of what I have learned about home? That things in Chicago are improving? Of how almost all the Factionless have been absorbed into society and have been given another chance by grateful family members. Maybe I should mention how the people are still thinking, albeit less rigidly, in terms of their faction and how they would benefit from someone who has never let her faction prescribe her reasoning?

I suppose I can talk about Christina and the others who mean a lot to her.

The list is endless and this frustrates me. I start running harder and soon the sweat is dripping off of me. But somehow the answers I so desperately seek still evade me. Eventually I am forced to stop, my body needing to rest. I sit down in a field next to an abandoned building and hang my head.

It will come to me. I have to believe that the words will come and that Tris will listen. Now it is my time to be as fearless as Hana and as optimistic as Zeke. As tenacious as Tris. As honest as Christina. And as dedicated as Caleb.

I smile, look up and shake my head. _That boy_. Strangely enough, since this morning I don't think of Caleb as Caleb anymore. To me he is now Kale. Something healthy instead of something toxic.

The sun has started to set. I have to get back.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 52

The next morning, everyone gathers at the hospital at 08:00. There is a buzz of nervous excitement in the air. In spite of it, the chatter is minimal.

Christina briefly makes an appearance. She looks like she hasn't slept all night. She hands Zeke a letter and asks him to read it to Uriah. Then she leaves.

Cara sets up in Tris' room and Matthew in Uriah's. The plan is to go in simultaneously.

While we wait Zeke comes over to me.

"Dude, you should see this letter that Christina wrote! I almost feel bad that I refused her to go in after me. She really loves Uriah!"

"Zeke, I think that the letter is supposed to be private," I scold him.

"Nah-ah! I process my thoughts by verbalising them. She should know me by now. How do I tell him all this … stuff?"

"Anything to get him to wake up, man. Maybe he has feelings for her too? Maybe her declaration will be the reason he wakes up? I will ask Hana to apologise to Uriah for me. That way you get some time with your brother as well."

"It means a lot to us that you want to apologise to him. You should know that even if this little experiment doesn't work, Uriah knows who you are and that you would never do anything to hurt him. Except maybe shoot him with a paintball gun." Zeke grins as he talks.

"This experiment, as you so lovingly put it, better work."

"I meant the experiment working on Uriah. The no brain activity thing slightly sets him apart from Tris."

Hana comes into Tris's room and calls Zeke. Matthew is ready. I grab both of them and hug them.

"I hope this works," is all I can say. Then they turn to leave.

Kale is already in the chair next to Tris's bed. Cara is about to inject the serum into his neck.

"Thanks for doing this, Kale."

"Kale?"

"Yeah, it is your new Dauntless name. Amar chose mine. I am choosing yours. I thought it necessary as Caleb the coward no longer exists. Don't tell Tris though. I want to."

Kale swallows and says, "Thank you, Four. This means more to me than you can imagine." He pushes his head back into the chair, "I'm ready, Cara."

The green liquid disappears into Kale's arm. In the ten seconds before the serum takes him, Cara sticks electrodes to both their temples. And so a very long five minutes begins.

I study Kale's body. He looks relaxed, peaceful even. It builds my confidence that this is going to work.

I walk next door to see how Zeke is doing. If Kale was calm, then Zeke is the opposite. His body is rigid, his arms shaking slightly. Shauna is next to him, holding his hand.

Hana looks worried. She peppers Matthew with questions, and he does his best to reassure her, but we can see that this is not what Matthew expected to happen.

"Should we pull him out?"

"No," I quickly say. "Let him have his time with Uriah. It is what I would want you to do, if that was me."

Whatever it is that Zeke is facing, it must be terrifying. I almost regret not pulling him out. After three minutes, Zeke brings himself out of the simulation. I have seen many initiates wake up from their fear simulations but this made my blood run cold. Why was Zeke so scared? We weren't targeting the area of the brain that controls fear?

"Moms, you are not going in. I, I won't allow it. That will not be the last memory you have of Uri."

"I have to, Zeke!" Hana pleads.

"No! No, you don't. Please, trust me. Don't go in."

There is movement at the door. "Then I will go in," Christina's resolve is fierce. "Please, I need to do this!"

"Chris," Zeke is begging. "You don't want to do this. I am trying to protect you."

"If that was Shauna, what would you do? Graciously bow out?" Christina's stare wears Zeke down. He climbs off of the chair.

"Remember that we are here with you and that you are safe. Tell yourself that!" Zeke squeezes Christina's arm and gives her access to the chair.

"Don't pull me out," she says and prepares for the injection. After the nodes are put on her, she goes limp. Then her body goes stiff. Her breathing is fast and short.

I look at Zeke, but he simply mouths " _Later"_. Whatever it was that he faced inside he obviously doesn't want his mother to know.

Kale makes an appearance at the doorway. It is my turn to go in but I am torn. I want to be here for Hana, Zeke and Christina but I am also desperate to see Tris again.

"Go," says Zeke. "She is probably waiting for you."

That does it. I don't want to keep Tris waiting. On our way back I ask Kale how it was.

"She was in a field in Abnegation, one where we used to play as children. She looks happy."

By now I am in the chair. "What did you talk about?"

"We spoke about the mission, our parents and why she should wake up…" Kale sounded very unsure at this moment, like he was hiding something. _She doesn't want to wake up?_

"See you in five minutes," I say and I close my eyes. I want to be oblivious to what I see in Kale's eyes. _She has to wake up._ I feel the needle enter my arm and the nodes being placed at my temple. Then I am in the field at Abnegation.

"Tobias…" How is it that my heart can soar and break at the sound of her voice saying that one word? I turn to find her walking towards me. She is wearing white, her hair is long.

"Tris!" I run to her and envelope her in an embrace. It feels so good. So _familiar_. My eyes feel moist and my throat feels tight. "I've missed you!"

"It is good to see your face again, Tobias. I feel your presence so strongly when you are in the room with me, but nothing beats seeing your face and feeling your arms."

"You know when I am in your room? You know what is going on?"

"Yes, I know when you are in the room. I can also hear your voices. They aren't always clear but I can hear them. Don't let me go just yet. We only have five minutes."

"No, Tris, we don't only have five minutes," I say as I grab hold of her shoulders, pushing her away. "We have a future together. Just wake up!"

"Tobias, it is warm here, safe. There are no guns, no war, no bombs, no bullets… No David, Eleanor or Marcus."

"It is not real."

"I am happy here."

"It is not real!"

"Don't you think I've been through enough?"

"No, Tris, I don't. You are so young, you have hardly lived. _We_ have hardly lived." I am surprised at my anger. "Do you know what I was willing to say to get you to wake up? That I was going to kill your brother if you don't get up. I hoped that the love that drove you to hi-jack the mission would drive you to wake up, if only to protect him. But now I realise that I want someone who is willing to fight for _me_. Someone who won't leave me. Someone who believes in us as much as I do." I start walking away but the image of Christina in that chair flashes through my mind.

"Christina is using the serum trying to get Uriah to wake up. She is fighting the worst kind of battle as we speak. I want that for me. And I need to be there for her when she wakes up. She needs someone to be there for her." I can't even make myself look at Tris. The grief is just too much. "I don't know you." And then I force myself to wake up.

I open my eyes to find Kale's concerned face staring at mine. I pull the nodes off my temples and rush to the room next door. Christina was just coming to.

"I found him," she croaks, her voice heavy with emotion. "I found him." But she turns on her side and starts sobbing. I guess no one is waking up today.

Hana bends over and hugs Christina. "Thank you so much."

A jerk on the bed catches our attention. Uriah's hand is moving, then his arm, then his neck. His eyes open. "Where's Christina?" His voice is hoarse but it is one of the most amazing sounds I have ever heard.

"I'm right here, Uriah!" Christina crawls on to his bed and grabs hold of him. The nodes are in the way and one ends up breaking as she claws to get them off. Then she kisses him. That sends me out of the room. I need my running clothes.

 **P/B**

I run. I run harder than I ever did. I try to outrun the grief and the loneliness that threaten to choke me. I refuse to cry. My _Four_ -mask is firmly in place but my insides refuse to conform to my will. Then everything spills over. I stumble and fall from the weight of my pain. My flesh gets ripped and torn from the impact but it brings relief. More relief comes from the tears and I am glad I am alone.

Once I am calm I realise I have to get away from this place. Maybe I should go back to Chicago? But the Dauntless compound holds too many memories. And Abnegation just holds the field where all my dreams died. Where can I go?

I debate whether I should even go back to the apartment. Maybe I should just make a clean break, head to my mother's. Recover.

The sight of my bloodied knees forces me to get up and make my way to the apartment. I will have to take care of them and get new clothes. Maybe even shower.

 **P/B**

The water has hardly touched my body when there is a knock at the door. I hear Zeke's voice. I should have locked the door. I know he needs to talk to me about what he saw when he was in Uriah's head but now is just not a good time. I open the taps even more, letting the water pound even harder on my head. It is the only thing I can hear now.

After the hot water runs out I leave the shower. I wrap a towel around myself and absentmindedly start grabbing the things I need to take with me back to Chicago.

I open the door and prepare myself for a confrontation with Zeke. He must be waiting for me.

Instead of his frame, there is a wheelchair in the living room. And in the wheelchair is Tris.

"The girl you saw back there, I don't know her either."


End file.
